A beautiful, rich smell drifted through the kitchen of Hale Manor. My hand clenched around the handle of the oven and pulled the door open, my opposite oven mitt-clad hand pulled out the cake responsible for such a delicious aroma. Placing the cake pan on a safe surface, I flipped it over onto a plate and watched the decadent baked good slide from the metal pan. As I waited for the cake to cool, I exited the kitchen and put the finishing touches on the decorations in the dining hall. Rose gold and silver streamers lined the beautiful, dark dining hall; the dining hall I had eaten my meals in for a little over twenty years. I passed a mirror as I dumped more ice into the several different kinds of punch we had set up for the guests.
My red hair had a few stray strands of silver hair peakin
